Strings of Life
by Thoughtful Word
Summary: Everyone has a string from which they dangle, intertwining and breaking off of other strings. When several lives knot together, they can twine to make something great. Follow Chelsea's life and the lives of others as they all try not to fall apart.
1. Chapter 1 Crash

Song of the chapter- Message in a Bottle

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Chapter 1: Crash

"Brown hair, female, 22. Is that right?" The captain of the ship asked, eyeing her up and down.

Chelsea looked up. "Yep, anything else you want to know?" She was very irritated by the close, proving questions, she felt almost like she was convicted for a crime. "Would you like my weight, height, and street number?" The only thing the girl wanted at that moment was to board the ship but this portly, middle aged man stood in her way.

"No miss, that's all." He grumbled as he stepped reluctantly aside. "Go on, we're about to cast off."

He looked at her distrustfully and ran up the plank, as if to pretend there wasn't a small girl carrying about forty pounds of luggage right behind him. She stumbled up the gang-plank, weighed down by heavy luggage. The man wrote a number on a scrap of ripped paper and handed it to the struggling girl.

"This is where your room is. We don't accept any foul-play, so don't stray too far into the ship, got it?" His eyes were narrowed with distrust as he looked up into her face.

"Yes sir..." She could feel her forehead wrinkling in frustration as she held back her eyes. A hand-bag almost slipped out from her bundle but she caught it before it was lost in the harbor.

It wasn't until he was walking away did she stumble into the low-ceilinged room. She threw the baggage on the bed without packing and stretched her cramped fingers. Nodding at the room, she turned on her heel and made her way to the bow of the ship, ending at the sudden point. She sat down and dangled her short legs over the rim of the safety rail and smiled into the sea breeze.

"Wow, what a nice sunset, it looks so big! I'm glad there aren't any clouds, it looks like nothing could go wrong here." She swayed with the rocking of the boat. "I could get used to this."

She watched the sun sink into the horizon, stood up, brushed off her jean shorts and made her way back to the bunker. Inside, she threw off her red bandana, shook out her brown hair and stepped over to the spotted mirror that hanged by a rusty nail, smoothing out her part.

She sighed and changed for bed; she figured she would need as much sleep as possible for tomorrow... It was going to be a long day.

She kicked her suitcase off the bed and bent down to get a small embroidered book. Her grandpa gave it to her for an early birthday present, but she never bothered to write in it yet.

As a last tribute to her grandfather, she searched around for a pen and ended up with a stubbly little pencil that had rolled under the bed. She tch-ed at the offending tool and snuggled into the blankets on the narrow little bed.

March, 21

Dear Grandpa,

Today is the start of my new life! Or my sorta new life, I'm just being handed to Grandma, because Gramps can't watch me anymore. So, as soon I buried Grampa I got a call from her telling me to collect my will money and move to her place on the country side.

I know that I'm still young, but I think that twenty-two is old enough to live alone! But don't tell grandma that, she still probably thinks that I'm still five, and I'll injure myself on kitchen appliances….. Even though I do….But that's not the point! I just wish for a chance to live free, after all this.

I can just hope to save up my money and get a real place by autumn, hopefully. But it'll be hard; Grandma will expect me to help her at the winery, naturally by doing all the "hard labor" for her. So my prospects are next to none, money-wise.

Really, my only hope would be some sudden twist of fate to throw me into a different path in life, but how many times does that happen a day?

Lo-

The pencil hovered over the page, her hand shaking slightly over the wire-rimmed notebook. Chelsea wasn't ready quit yet to say goodbye.

She laughed to herself as she stuck the pencil in the binding of the little book, trying to shake off the chill that had run up her back.

Without changing, Chelsea sank down into the blanket and fell fast asleep, exhaustion taking her at last. As her conscious self spent the night tossing and turning on the rickety bed, her dream-self wasn't having a pleasant time either. Her dream unfolded to her second grade sandbox where she was kicked into the sand box by the manly little girl that ruled her grade school playground.

Little Chelsea looked up with her wide blue eyes and her tear-streaked cheeks, half a dozen laughing children circled around the pair. Time seemed to slow as the sun blotted out Chelsea's eyesight as the trump of doom came down swiftly and soundlessly on her nose.

With a gasp she shot up, her nose aching from her old wounds. Clutching her nose, she panted slightly and placed her head between her knees to get rid of the dizzying ache that came with her nightmare. Her ears visibly cringed as metal shredded against metal in the darkness.

The boat gave an awful shudder as Chelsea opened her door to see where that ungodly noise came from. Rain pelted her uncovered head and wind howled in her ears as she tried to close her door after she saw all she needed to know.

She had the door almost fully closed when a colossal wave made its way through the blurry horizon. In a sudden rush of adrenaline and fast thinking, she grabbed her suitcase and held it tightly to her shaking arms, running for any sort of cover…. and into a low hanging lamp and knocking herself out immediately.

"Hey you! Hey! Wake up time, get up! What are you, dead?" A voice shouted at her from the darkness, while something hard poked her in the head. She gripped her suitcase harder and rolled over. When she did, the heavy and solid case pressed against her stomach.

"Hurrrrrrrrrk!" Chelsea shot up and coughed all the sea water that was in her lungs, plus yesterday's lunch as well, throwing off the enormous suitcase that crushed her stomach.

"Well, you're definitely not dead. I guess Felicia can clean you up, let's go meet the family." As her vision cleared, Chelsea could make out a small, wrinkly old man with a wooden cane.

He looked back at a still-frozen Chelsea quivering at the shoreline. "Well, I don't have all day, girlie! Get your land legs on and follow me!" He sped off at a fast pace through the sand dunes, using his walking stick like a javelin.

Chelsea quickly stood up, stumbled, and staggered after the strange man. When she reached the top of the sand dune, she saw the old man had joined a motherly-looking woman.

"Look here daughter!" The old man shouted at the top of his lungs. "I've found a survivor!"

The woman was the first to speak. "Well hello young lady! I see that you've made it here in one piece. That's just wonderful." As she said all this, she never opened her eyes to actually look at her, but she seemed to know some other way. Maybe she was blind?

"Y-yes, I guess so. But where are we?" No one said anything for a little bit. Of course, the man broke the silence.

"Well, we're on a deserted island of course!" He cackled into the wind, just as two flaming red heads of hair stepped into view. The old man spotted them, mid-laugh. "Where have you two been, we've been worried sick for you!" His unpredictable mood changed yet again, his face swelling like a hot-air balloon.

The sharp-eyed girl spoke first, rolling her eyes. "Oh gramps, we were just exploring the island! Chill out, we didn't get hurt or anything."

The old man's face turned a deeper red, but his daughter interrupted him before he could burst. "Well, kids, we have another person here with us, say hello to…. Oops, we don't know each other's names do we?" Her normally cheerful face drooped.

"Um, my name is Chelsea…" She was still in shock from waking up so suddenly.

"Taro's my name!" The old man piped up first. "This is my daughter Felicia, my granddaughter Natalie, and my grandson Elliot." He pointed at the woman, the sharp red-head, and the uncomfortable young man behind her.

Elliot finally spoke. "It is very nice to meet you Chelsea…." He blushed and quickly looked down.

"Yeah, me too, glad ta meet ya'!" Natalie was bolder then her brother and shook Chelsea's hand, much to her surprise.

Felicia broke up the introductions by laying her hand on Chelsea's sleeve. "Well, now that we know each other, we should go look for shelter. We need to find a place to sleep, at the very least."

Taro nodded his consent and led the group up a weed ridden road. After about five minutes silent walking, a shabby string of what could have once resembled shacks at arched over the descending rock basin.

"Oh, this looks perfect!" Felicia clapped her hands together and nodded, never once opening her eyes.

Natalie had different thoughts. "Uh, Mom? No it doesn't… It looks like someone threw together a bunch of cardboard boxes and added a door."

Taro's face turned a deep, liquid red. "Missy, this is the best we have right now, so deal with it!" Natalie just turned back to the house wearing a dissatisfied frown.

Elliot looked at it thoughtfully and said in a small voice, "I could probably fix some of the holes in the roof by sun down, and maybe find a transition on the radio we still have..." He glanced at Chelsea again and blushed at his own audacity.

Chelsea stepped forward. "I could probably go foraging with Natalie and find some…. Mushrooms or grass or something to eat." She turned her head around for confirmation. "You know, so we don't starve?"

Felicia nodded with an encouraging smile, "That sounds great Chelsea, and I'll stay with Grandfather and salvage anything that washes up."

Chelsea tossed her sodden case down next to the house and turned. "I have some stuff in here….. some tools, airplane food, I think a plastic knife... and some clothes, for Felicia and Natalie if you guys need them…"

She opened the case and felt around, checking for leaks. "Wow, the water-resistant coating actually kept water out…. I guess that means my music player's still working." Natalie perked up as Chelsea pulled out the small white cube of technology.

Taro nodded at her. "Thank you for all that, we have some furniture we found off the coastline, we'll add that too."

And with that said, everyone split up to do their jobs.

Natalie and Chelsea set off to the north, looking around for food. Natalie turned to her companion and started a fragile conversation. "So… how's your day going?"

Chelsea blinked a couple of times and bit back a small chuckle. "Oh, just one of those normal, ordinary days. You know…. The usual."

"Oh I know, I do this frequently, I just jump off of boats and swim for the nearest island. Cuts travel expenses." Natalie also had to work to force back her smile.

Natalie snickered and Chelsea started to giggle uncertainly. Then they started to laugh wildly, hugging their stomachs. After a few moments of rolling around on the ground, they calmed down and started walking again, strangely at ease.

"So, I guess we try to find weird colored grasses or mushrooms, you know, edible things." Natalie scanned the horizon, and decided on asking her something. "Hey, Chelsea?"

She was crouching low in the other direction, deciding whether or not a mushroom was poisonous. "Hm?"

"I see that you have a Sigh-pod, and I…. Well, that is to say…. Can I listen to it time to time?"

"Any time you want, but promise to add songs you like to it, I need to listen to other genres."

Natalie smiled hesitantly, but soon beamed. "Thanks, I've always wanted one of those, but where are you going to get one in a small village?" Suddenly she was distracted by something in the distance.

"See that house over there?" Natalie pointed in the other direction, while Chelsea straightened up, wiping her hands. "It looks slightly better then the one we found! We should get everyone."

The girls ran back to the shore line and grabbed the old man and his daughter, towing Elliot along the way.

Taro shook off Natalie's hand. "Well, look at that. Chelsea, it looks like a nice house for you."

Natalie's jaw dropped. "What?! Why don't we all live here? It's in better condition compared to the shack Elliot's been hammering away at!"

Taro was about to share his livid opinion when Felicia stepped in. "Well honey, it's just large enough for one person, and I don't think Chelsea would like to cramp in with us, would you dear?" She turned to her.

"Um, I like you guys just fine, but it does look small, and I'll work on it in my spare time…" She tapped on one of the windows, and was surprised that the glass didn't fall and shatter. "After you guys are settled in, of course." She added as an after thought.

"Excellent, we'll all meet back at the house in about two hours, okay? That should give everyone enough time to finish their jobs." Felicia took her seething father by the arm and dragged him back to the shore.

Elliot was standing slightly apart from the group with a thoughtful expression, his arms folded and face set. Natalie, however, was just as livid as her grandfather,

The girls returned to picking herbs in companionable silence. The sun slowly dipped down towards the west and they girls headed back, arms full of wild grasses. As the newly repaired house loomed into view, they saw Elliot stumble over a stump in surprise, almost knocking the mushrooms out of his sister's hands.

Natalie rolled her eyes and righted the food. "Oh brother! What's up with the two left feet? You almost made me trip on 'shrooms." Elliot looked down, clearly embarrassed.

Chelsea came to his rescue. "Oh Nat, it would have been okay; we didn't wash the grasses or the mushrooms yet, so a little dirt wouldn't have killed anyone." But she snickered to herself afterwords at Natalie's slip-up… 'tripping on 'shrooms'…

Elliot peeked up from under his lashes at Chelsea, thanking her silently, and she smiled in return.

Natalie sighed. "Oh I guess so, but really, this is the beginning Chels. He's always such a klutz, and he just ruins everything!"

Chelsea just sighed and turned to the two adults stumbling over the sand dune. Natalie and Chelsea carried their food in a wicker basket and started to wash all of it in a near-by stream. After that was done, they joined the rest of the family and doled out the food.

Once everything was consumed, Taro stood up. "Well everyone, now that we have food and a reasonable house, we should think of what we're gonna do next. Chelsea," He turned to her with a question in his wrinkled face. "My family and I wanted to settle on an island similar to this and start a new life for ourselves, farming the land. But, what do you plan to do?"

Chelsea stared at her crossed legs for a few moments. "Taro… everyone…. I was on that ship to live with my grandmother on her orchard, but I wasn't that. Enthusiastic about it; it really didn't feel right."

She turned to look up at the stars beginning to blink overhead, thinking hard. "What I really want to do right now, at this moment, is to stay on the island, with all of you…Farming I guess. This is what I want to do, and if you all will have me, I would really like that."

Taro's face spilt into a great grin, all of the hot air leaking out of the cracks. "Well, I like that idea, and I'll even help you." He glanced at his daughter. "I'm what you call an expert farmer, and I could help you with what ever you would need." She nodded her thanks, happy to be accepted.

Elliot looked up and smiled at Chelsea. "Yes, but… I think we should share this island with other people, it looks so beautiful here." He turned to his sister. "What do you think Natalie? Can we do this?"

Natalie looked like she was going to say something nasty to her brother, but something in his face made her stop.

"Yes, I think we could make this a decent place to live; if anyone wants to come, let 'em come!" She punched the air with her clenched fist, yelling into the dusk.

Felicia practically glowed with pride as she saw her children talking to each other like adults. Moved by her joy, she grabbed Natalie in a fierce hug.

Natalie tried to break from her iron grasp, shouting for help. "Ow, Mom! Lemme go! You're gonna pop one of my blood vessels! Stop! Arg!"

The rest just laughed at this exchange and talked into the night, planning the future.


	2. Chapter 2 Beginnings

Chapter Song- Modern Girls & Old Fashion Men (Regina Spektor & The Strokes)

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Chapter 2: Beginnings

Leaves, twigs, and stones stood separated in three staggering piles, removed from their long-time home. Chelsea had just thrown the last stone into the mini-quarry when she looked up to check the time. The sun was up ahead, and her shadow was under her, so that meant… noon? She wasn't exactly sure.

Natalie meanwhile, was trying to axe a large stump into building material, but was having complications. Feet apart, shoulders thrown back, her elbows locked into place, Natalie held the heavy tool above her head and struggled under its weight. Unable to wind back much more, she brought it down with her full strength. It didn't even make a mark.

A string of colorful curses were issued against the offending stump, and if it had any self-worth before this episode, it was cast off with Natalie's tirade. In defeat, it simply split neatly into eight perfectly cut pieces.

With one last distain sniff, Natalie raised her nose and started to gather the fruits of her labor.

Chelsea had only seen the aftermath of this feat and therefore thought nothing of it. With a relaxed sigh, she watched the clouds drift over-head.

"Hey Nat," she questioned. "Still there?"

An answering grunt responded.

"Doesn't your grandpa's snoring bother you?" Chelsea lowered herself to the ground, yawning as she did so.

Natalie looked up from her wood-splitting to blink at her friend. "Uh, no you get used to it after a couple of years."

"Oh. Okay." And then went back to her cloud-watching.

Unable to leave the conversation hanging, Natalie kicked her shoulder. "Why did you ask?"

"Well, I've been having some trouble sleeping with you guys." Chelsea's eyes started to close slightly as she let the warmth dissipate through her arms.

With a quick squat, Natalie joined her friend on the weed free field. With crooked grin, she tapped her nose to get her attention. "What? You don't like sleeping on our special army cots? They're nice and comfy."

With a short hum, Chelsea grabbed her nose and crinkled her eyebrows in annoyance. "Well, I spent half the night trying to drown out that horrible racket that comes out of your grandpa's nose and the other half dodging your armpit! Do you ever wash?"

Natalie chuckled wickedly. "With your soap. Maybe that's why I smell?"

"Ew! Do you really? Now I'm going to be thinking about that next time I take a shower!" She sat up and laid her face on her fist.

"Only for you, my friend. Unless you want to use Elliot's? Now he really does smell." Natalie pinched her nose in mock disgust, and started to smooth her hand up and down her calves.

"Oh Natalie, stop talking about your brother! He's a nice kid!"

"Hey, don't call him a kid, he's older than you. Twenty-four, if you can believe it." Natalie had started to pick the stray woodchips off her work apron.

"Yeah, so that means you are too? Goddess, I hate that you guys are twins!"

Natalie's abnormally golden eyes widened. "Woah, why?" She stopped her unconscious stroking and stared down into Chelsea's glare.

"You are so lucky to have someone in your family that's so close to your age like that! I had no one growing up!" She was almost to her breaking point for the past week, and Natalie's belittlement was beginning to eat away at her patience.

They both sat in a staunch silence, both trying not to look at the other. Again, unable to hold it in, Natalie broke the stillness. "Did you ever have a brother? If you did, you would know how I feel."

"I had someone else who was just as annoying, but I didn't whine abut him all the time!" While not as mad as she was, Chelsea was determined to make Natalie squirm. It didn't seem to work quite the way she wanted it though.

"I don't whine!" Natalie picked a clod of dirt off her stockings and added, "I do love him, it's just… force of habit." She smiled devilishly and leaned her head on the heel of her wrist. "So stop with the angry winkles."

Chelsea only wiped her forehead, smoothing out her expression. "Just tone it down until I get more sleep, I'm gonna break soon if I don't." A yawn broke free despite her best efforts.

Natalie chuckled. "I'll try my best, but I think you'd do better if you slept in your house. You haven't stepped in there since we finished scouring it the other day."

Another yawn escaped. "Yeah, I think I'll take a nap, but let's finish plowing so your brother and Felicia can plant." She bent low to shake up a hard patch of dirt with her fingernail and winced when she was unable to break the surface.

Natalie groaned at her reaction and shook her head warily. "Ooff… This is going to be murder on our arms."

Chelsea sat down again and thought for a moment before brightening with an idea. "Let's make sure the ground is soaked before we break it up so it'll be easier to move."

"You plow, I'll water." Natalie ran to the well to fill up her watering can, her hair glinting brightly in the sunlight.

They worked away at the fields until Felicia came out with Elliot to relieve them. "Mom, I'm taking Chelsea to her house, she needs to sleep."

She smiled, showing only her lips. "Okay, Natalie, I think you could use some rest too, we have a shop keeper and his son coming to buy a house in a few hours, just be ready then."

The girls put their arms around each other, Natalie supporting her much shorter counterpart.

Chelsea bobbed in her stupor, saying sleepily, "Gee, a new neighbor in only two weeks. Just wait until we have more then ten people on the island! Festivals here we come!"

The group had often talked about expanding their resources, and they all agreed that get together were the fastest way to attract people to their island. Chelsea suggested their first one be about the Goddess Festivals of her home town, and was disappointed when only Taro knew what she was talking about.

"What?" He quipped. "There hasn't been a festival any where near 'ere in years! Now that I think on it, in our old town, we only had crop festivals, no dancing or eating parties at all.

"No way! Can we change that? I need the Goddess Festival! It's ingrained into my DNA!" She begged, even though she knew she probably couldn't win this argument.

Felicia put a comforting arm over the over-excited girl. "Don't worry, this is our island, we can do anything we want, even this…. Dance party you seem to like. Let's just… find some place to host it first."

"Well, there isn't anywhere I could think of right now, besides the beach…. Oh shoot, I guess we could do it next year…. We don't even have access to the Goddess yet…." Chelsea heaved a great sigh and crossed her idea off the list they had been making.

A few pinches from Natalie brought her back to the present. "We're here, wake up! You need to unlock the door!" She jostled her friend when her head dipped. "Wake up!"

"Errr-kay! Just stop…" She grunted angrily as she fumbled with her keys. "Urg, I should have just slept under a tree or something, I can't go on!"

"Stop it, you're such a drama queen, you'll thank me later for this." Natalie guided her into the one-room house and tossed her on the bed. "Chelsea, move over, you don't even have a chair for Goddess' sake! Share the blanket!"

They kicked off their shoes and within seconds, both girls were off to dream land. In a matter of four short hours though, a knock sounded on the wooden door. Chelsea was just opening her eyes when Natalie's arm smacked her in the face. One push off the bed later cleared the way for Chelsea and her valiant effort was rewarded with a satisfying crash.

"Ouch, thanks for waking me up." Natalie rubbed her back with scowl on her face.

"Well, who told you to sleep next to me? You could have gone home." Chelsea crossed the room, stumbling every few steps. the room to let Elliot in. "Hello Elliot, just a tip, don't ever share a bed with your sister, she'll roll on you." She rubbed her forehead while Natalie rubbed her aching back.

Chelsea could have sworn she heard an 'I'm gonna feel this in the morning' grumble from Natalie, but chose to ignore it anyway.

"Right…." Elliot was confused, but decided not to question this strange spectacle. He was afraid of what the answer might have been. "Girls, the merchant is here, and Grandpa wants you to meet him and his son."

"Owww… My hip." Natalie groaned, still stiff from her rude awaking. "Get outta here Moosey, no one wants you here."

"Fine, see you two in a bit." His mouth was in a thin line as he exited the farm house, unwanted images circulating around his head.

"Natalie, do I have to bring out the spray bottle?" Chelsea gave a frustrated sigh and hooked arms with her friend.

A few minutes later, they joined the small group on the beach, rubbing sleep out of their eyes.

"Well look at that! They're finally up! Thank you for joining us girls." Taro seemed impatient as they joined the huddle.

"Well we're here now, gramps." Natalie grumbled.

Felicia, always the peacemaker, changed the subject. "Well, we we're expecting two new arrivals, but there's enough room for you Mr. Gannon."

"Thank ye Felicia, I'm sure happy to be here. I promise to work hard fer ya." Gannon nodded cordially at the small woman. Chelsea gaped in amazement as Gannon took Felicia's hand, rocking it gently.

Gannon looked like he could crush it if he wasn't careful; he looked like a craggy mountain. The immense man noticed Chelsea staring at him open-mouthed and he chuckled softly.

"Hello, miss. I see that yer weren't expecting me. I'm Gannon the carpenter and I'm here to fix some o' the bridges. And you are?" he held out his gigantic hand. Chelsea, who was still in shock, jumped suddenly and remembered her manners.

"H-hello, I'm Chelsea, the new farmer on t-the island. Nice to meet you, Mr. Gannon," she stuttered as she took his hand. It enveloped about three times over hers and he barely griped it, almost like he was afraid to squeeze too tightly.

Only when he stepped away did Chelsea see a weary, middle aged man smiling shyly. "Hello. My name is Chen, and I would like to set up shop here."

As he shook everyone's hand, a small person jumped up behind him, trying to gain someone's attention. Natalie noticed him first.

"Well hello, who's this little guy?" She smiled sweetly at the child as he stopped mid-hop to introduce himself.

"I am not a little guy! I'm Charlie!" He puffed up his cheeks and glared at the perplexed red-head.

Elliot saved his sister. "Well Charlie, it's great to see another man come into to the island; I'm practically going crazy with all these women here." He shook the child's hand enthusiastically, smiling warmly.

Charlie nodded at Chelsea saying only, "Hello, Lady!" And ducked behind his father.

"Now that we all know each other, let's show you the houses! They do need some fixing up, but we have Mr. Gannon here to help us!" Felicia

Gannon strode up to the nearest shack and knocked on the weathered wood, unsurprised by the neat hole that was punched through. "Heh, this is nuthin'. It should take me a matter of hours to fix these things up." The window a few feet down from the group fell out of its pane, but again, Gannon was unsurprised. "Yeah, this is nuthin'."

He seemed to have a sudden thought and turned to Felicia. "Would it be okay if my daughter came to live with me? Not now, but once this place starts to pick up."

"Yes, we always would like another neighbor, and we would be delighted to have her, sooner or later."

Chelsea immediately thought of a female Gannon and cringed. She hoped that she came later rather than sooner.

Gannon clapped his hands. "Well, I'll get started right now. Chen? I'll start yours first, if that's okay."

"Of course man, I'll carry up my supplies from the boat." And with that, the three new comers walked to the beach.

Natalie and Chelsea turned back to the turnip fields in a stunned silence.

"Did you see how that little boy looked at me?" Natalie shook her head in amazement.

"Did you see the size of that guy? I wonder what his daughter looks like." Chelsea's eyes bugged out as the image popped up in her mind.

"She probably looks like a sweet little toffee, or something ironic like that." Natalie chuckled dryly. "I bet that she's super small too."

"And the little kid probably had a bunch of other little kids call him small, and you just opened up a world of teasing for him. Congrats." Chelsea patted her friend's back and they returned to watering the little buds, remembering her own childhood woes.

"My left knuckle's telling me that tomorrow's going to be a rainy day!" Taro groaned as he rubbed said knuckle.

"Thanks Taro, but how do you know the weather like that? It's so sunny today; there isn't a cloud in the sky!" Chelsea trusted he old man's judgment by now, but she still wanted to know his secret.

"Yeah, gramps! Do you have, like, super farming powers?" Natalie was still amazed by her grandpa's "talent" and she had known this all of her life.

"When you have been living off the land as long as I have, you would be able to tell the weather, just by looking out the window." Taro's face swelled with pride, but grimaced as his knuckle gave another painful surge.

"Well, no matter how it's told, the main thing is that we don't have to water tomorrow. That's always a plus." Chelsea grinned as she sat down to take a bite out of her bagel. In addition to sleeping sometimes at their house, Chelsea also ate with them.

"Hello Chelsea, you look adorable as always." Felicia said. She felt as if Chelsea was one of her own children, so she pushed for Chelsea spending her breakfasts at Taro's house.

"Hi Felicia. Uh, do you guys mind if I went to Gannon's today? I need to talk to him about building a bridge."

"Wow, did we get enough money to do that?" Elliot inquired.

"Actually in my spare time, I've been chopping wood trying to lower Gannon's price. You guys know it doesn't come cheap, so I've been trying to help out." Chelsea rubbed her forearms as she said that, remembering the hours of chopping she did.

"Fantastic! But there are three bridges that are broken, which one should we do first?" Felicia put her finger on her chin, deep in thought.

Chelsea answered immediately. "I'm thinking the bridge to the meadow should be opened first."

"What? Why? They'll be so much more material in the forest, how about we do that first?" The forest enchanted Natalie; she often daydreamed about the fabled Sprites that resided there.

"Well, meadow equals festivals and festivals equal spectators which equal new comers which equal island growth." Elliot deduced quickly. "We want as many people coming here as fast as possible."

"I guess…. But can we expand the next bridge to the forest next? Think about all the awesome stuff we could find there." Natalie's face was completely blank as she said this, but Chelsea knew that she wanted this very much.

"Sure, I just got a fishing rod from Chen, so I guess the income from that should speed things up a bit." Chelsea promised her friend. "Here, I'm gonna go now, I want him to start as soon as possible."

Before anyone could object, she ran out of the house and down the road to Gannon's shack. She was so excited for the festivals they would soon be having that she forgot about how Gannon scared her. She knocked on his door, realizing too late.

"Well hello missy, you look pretty today." Gannon appeared suddenly in the door way, almost too big to fit though.

Chelsea gaped for a second or two and talked when she remembered her purpose. "G-gannon, could y-you build something for u-us?" She looked down, wringing her hands nervously.

"Of course miss Chelsea, jus' bring me to the lumber and hand me the money, and whatever it is, will be done by tomorrow." He smiled a gentle smile, but Chelsea didn't see it; she was too busy squeezing her hands.

"Um, okay. Follow me; I need you to build a bridge over by that meadow over there." It came out almost as a question.

Together they walked in a strained silence to the wood bin near Chelsea's house. "Uh, here's the wood, and here's the money for the job."

He smiled a toothy smile. "Thanks, I'll be done around sunrise tomorrow."

Chelsea attempted to look him in the eyes, but was too scared to. "Thanks again …. G-gannon…" And then she turned around and almost ran into her house.

She threw open the door and jumped onto her bed, cradling her knees to her body. "Wow," she breathed to herself, "I don't know why I should be so scared, but he's jut so big! I can't get over it, and he's perfectly nice too! I should just get a grip." She just rested on the bed, trying to get a hold of her scattered thoughts.

A knock on the door broke her train of thought and she slowly unraveled herself from her bed. She stepped down and walked slowly to the door, expecting Gannon asking for more wood. She was surprised to see three strangers standing at her door.

One was very short and chubby, with sandy blond hair and bright blue eyes, and obviously the mother of the taller girl. The taller girl had the same coloring as her mother, and probably the same face at one time, but had a beautiful figure. The third person didn't look like either of them; he was a tall man with silver hair and deep amethyst eyes that were narrowed distrustfully. Chelsea looked down in embarrassment when she locked eyes with the tall man, and introduced herself.

"Um…. I'm Chelsea, the owner of this ranch, and you guys are…?" She looked at the older woman, waiting for her to say something.

"Well hello darling! My name is Mirabelle, this young man is Vaughn, and this is my daughter, Julia." She smiled brightly, but then remembered something as an after thought. "Ooops, I almost forgot to tell you why we're here in the first place! Heh, see my daughter and I run an animal dealership, you know… Something you go to buy a cow, or a pig….. And Vaughn here is our provider, he ships us the animals, so whenever you put in an order for a sheep, he comes over and delivers it.

Vaughn spoke up in a deep voice, "I come every Wednesday and Thursday to check on things… I just wanted you to know that…" And with that, he turned and walked towards the beach, where a small white boat waited carrying all of Mirabelle and Julia's furniture, probably to unload it, Chelsea thought.

"Sorry, he's a little shy around new people. I'm sure he'll warm up…. Someday." Mirabelle cast an uncertain look towards his direction and turned back to Chelsea.

"Well, it's great to meet you guys, I hope that I can buy a chicken or two once I get a hold of things…. Like a coop…" She smiled hopefully as Julia chuckled behind her hand.

"Yeah, we're gonna go, but just peek in later once we're moved in." Mirabelle shook Chelsea's hand and walked down the path towards the growing residential part of the Island.

Julia lingered behind. "Chelsea, I hope to see more of you…. I'm just with my mom most of the day, and then with Vaughn, but he's not much of a talker, you know?"

"I'll see you later then, Julia." She smiled warmly at the blonde and watched her as walked down the dirt path.

She closed the door and noted that their little Island was getting more and more popular. She wanted to think about the cowboy, but she mentally shied away from it, knowing he was out of her league. He was obviously more beautiful then she could ever hope for. She sighed, and Chelsea cast around her room, searching for something to do. Her eyes traveled from the curtains, the checkered bed spread, to the old fishing pole in the corner.

Well, it's been a little while since I fished last….Couldn't hurt to do a little bit more…. Maybe I'll see the cowboy… No! I don't want to get hurt like that… He's worlds away from me…

She grabbed her pole with unnecessary force and made her way towards the stream next to Chen's house. She cast the line into the water and waited. She sat down with a bored sigh and held the pole aloft, watching the red bobber bob gently with the current.

Wow, this is really boring… I think I'm gonna fall asleep, I'm so bored. I don't think this is a very lively spot. Oh, I'll try the beach!

With that thought, she yanked the line out of the water, bringing up an empty can in the process and walked to the beach. When she was there, she smelled the salty air and took off her red goulashes and her orange jacket. As she was walking, she tripped over a rock formation and cut her foot. Wincing, she made her way to the peer to throw her stuff down and to dip the cut into the salty water. It stung a bit and but she could feel the cut tingling unpleasantly.

She recast her line and almost immediately reeled in a small cod. She stared at it, dumbfounded as she threw it into her cooler. Usually, fish hide during the day on the island, but the boat that carried the new arrivals probably made them restless and disorganized. She stood up, reeling in fish after fish, happy about the sum of money she was going to earn, already thinking about building a bridge to the forest.

Two hours later she was clutching her huge bag of fish to her chest, limping towards the shipping bin. Her cut had reopened but she didn't mind, if this was the price to pay for about fifty-something fish, she would do this more often.

She threw the bag into the bin and sighed over her clumsiness. Chelsea had always been clumsy, no matter where she was. She almost always brought bad luck with her where ever she went, and it was just ironic that the boat she was on had sunk. But, she had survived, so she probably wasn't cursed with terrible luck, it was just part of her nature.

She staggered into the house, looking for some type of Band-Aid without turning on the lamp; she liked to think that she knew where stuff was in her house after a month of living on the island. When she stubbed her toe for a second time, she called it quits and started to prepare for bed. She undressed, pulled on her nightclothes, and prepared to crash into bed. When she jumped in, she collided with something hard. Something in the shape of a small person.

Chelsea bit back a scream of fright as she turned on the bedside lamp. She looked down at an illuminated Natalie grunting in her sleep. Chelsea was about to clobber her when she thought better of it; so instead, she pushed her off the bed, turned off the light, and snuggled into her checkered quilt. Natalie was still fast asleep, being a very heavy sleeper, and soon Chelsea joined her friend in comatose-like sleep.


End file.
